This page brings together articles and reflections from my practice.
Some focus directly on therapy, trauma, the nervous system, and relationship patterns. Others reflect more broadly on the values and human questions that shape how I think about suffering, care, relationship, and psychological work.
If you have come here because you are considering therapy, you may also want to look at the main therapy pages, About, or Getting started to get a clearer sense of how I work.
You can also read more about some of the key values behind my work.
Dissociation can feel confusing, frightening, or hard to explain. You may go blank, feel distant from yourself, lose time, or feel as though things are unreal. This article explains dissociation as a protective response rather than a personal failing, and outlines how therapy can approach it gently.
Read MoreSome people can describe their difficulties clearly and still feel as though something deeper is not shifting. This article explores what it can mean for therapy to include the body, nervous system, posture, tension, impulses, and protective responses as well as reflection and conversation.
Read MoreFunctional collapse can be hard to recognise because, from the outside, life may still appear to be moving. You may still be working, replying, caring for others, and appearing composed — while inside you feel numb, foggy, depleted, or shut down.
This article explores functional collapse as a protective response rather than a personal failing: when the nervous system has carried too much for too long and begins to conserve energy by reducing feeling, contact, and responsiveness.
Read MoreNot all trauma responses look like panic or agitation. Sometimes the system goes quiet, heavy, numb, foggy, or flat. This article explores what shutdown, freeze, and collapse can feel like, why they happen, and why these responses often make sense in the context of overwhelm or chronic strain.
Read MoreSome people look as though they are coping well from the outside, yet inside they are exhausted, tense, shut down, overwhelmed, or still reacting in ways they cannot fully shift. This article explores the hidden cost of high functioning, why insight and talking may not always be enough on their own, and how therapy can help.
Read MoreWondering what happens in Deep Brain Reorienting? Here’s a step-by-step guide to a DBR session, including pacing, safety, and after-care.
Read MoreRelational psychotherapist, ILF neurofeedback practitioner, and clinical supervisor.
Psychotherapy and supervision are available in person and online.
ILF neurofeedback is available in person only, in Reading, Berkshire.
+44 (0)7803 049039 · paolo@presentingpast.co.uk - LinkedIn
UKCP Registered Psychotherapist · UKCP Registered Clinical Supervisor
BACP Registered Member · CTA-P
